adventures in plodding...

I was pretty pleased with the end result, but the effort/pacing could've been better.  After an inconsistent few weeks, I figured I'd be in about 53:30-54:00 shape and was right on the money.   I had to stop a couple times during the second half of the race, however, which I hate doing.  I think it was a combination of lack of conditioning and being mentally pooped out....I found myself in the middle of no-man's land, with nobody within about a quarter mile, which can make things difficult.  I probaby cost myself about 45-60 seconds doing that, or I would've been even faster. 

12 seconds slower than what I ran for the race last year, but there was a fresh layer of snow, which made footing tricky in spots and probably slowed the course down a bit.......I went back afterward and compared results among some of the top people who ran both this year & last year and found that just about everybody was 2-4 minutes slower this year.  That cheered me up a little bit.

It should also be noted that I was the only person competing in the male 25-29 age division, but a win is still a win! :)

Nice loop around town after work.  Variable footing with some acrobatics involved.

Slogging through snow on the rail trail + not feeling well and called it a day early.  Definitely been an adjustment coming back to work after break.  I really need to get on top of the sleep thing.

5 with the track club.  Neighborhood loop from Highland High.  I resisted the urge to jog in circles around everybody in the parking lot to get up to an even 5.   Score:  Kevin - 1  OCD - 0

Easy hour with the track club on the JRP.  Seemed to be a more industrial area and not quite as scenic as other parts of the path that I've done, but the company was nice and I was pleased to see that it was thoroughly plowed.

Easy 30 mins on the treadmill w/ 4x30sec pickups mixed in.  Winter series 5k tomorrow.

Splits 7:25-7:32-7:58-6:52 (.16)

Felt ok early on, then faded pretty hard after the turnaround.  Now I just need to start running more so the last mile starts sucking less.  It sucks to be just barely on the north side of the big round number, but I had guestimated that 24 minutes was about my top-end ability right now with 24:30 being more realistic, so I was pretty happy with it.

I hadn't run the winter series before, but it seems to draw a good crowd.  It's nice always having people to run with.  A bit of a monotonous course that runs out n' back along I-80, but pancake flat and great for fast times.  Ideal racing conditions today too, with temps in the mid 20s, sunny skies, no wind, and good air quality.  Hopefully we'll be as lucky for the next two races.

My wife also ran faster than expected (~2 minutes under her 5k time from a couple weeks ago!) and then won some girl scout cookies in the post race raffle to top it all off.  This was obviously the high point of the day.

40 minutes easy peasy whilst watching the Bruins lay some smack down.

Some interesting thoughts on Galen Rupp and his lastest trend of breaking American records...

https://www.facebook.com/craigvirginrunner 

Mostly I just wonder what would possess somebody to do 5x1 mile immediately after one of said records.

Ran with my friend Nicole on the second part of her long run down in Ogden.  Occasional snow flurries, but overall a pretty nice day.

Evening fiver on the treadmill - while watching Boy Meets World of course.  I'm a cold weather wimp these days, so I better get used to it.  High temps in the low teens for the rest of the week - oh beautiful Wyoming!

3 mile tempo at 'would be nice' 10k pace.  Havent done so hot with the treadmill tempos, but felt pretty strong tonight.  1 w/u - 1 c/d

Track club run on the mean streets around Highland High.  Managed to not slip on any ice, which is always a small victory since I've already taken three bad spills this winter just from walking.  Threw down a couple fast miles at the end and felt strong.  Yay for group runs!

quick 3 on the treadmill with 4x30sec pickups.  10k of rainy/slushy fun tomorrow!

Splits: 7:54-8:07-8:01(25:07ish first 5k)-7:59-8:12-8:00-7:25 (.28) (25:16ish second 5k)

I was pretty pumped about this one. The precipitation was nice enough to hold off for us, but there was still a formidable wind that we had to deal with on the way back.  Based on conditions and recent performances, I'd guesstimated my top-end ability level to be at about 52 minutes, so obviously I was excited with how things went and how perfectly the race was executed. Even though I was about 10-12 secs slower coming back, it was definitely a negative split effort with the wind (other reports that I've read have shown about a 1-2 min positive split for most people.) It was just one of those weird days where everything seemed to click. Despite the wind, I felt strong all the way through. I got through most of the second half by trying to dart between groups of tall guys (which isn't easy when you're six feet), sticking with a group for a minute or two, then pushing ahead to find another group. I guess it worked pretty well, as I passed about 15-20 folks in the second half and only got passed once or twice myself.  The Garmin had it at 6.28, so now I just need to work on my tangents to get that sub 50 :) When I look back historically at my races, the cool/overcast/rainy/windy mix seems to be when I've really been able to throw down (the last time it happened was during Hurricane Ogden last May). Maybe I should move to Seattle.

"I have HOW LONG till my pedicure appointment?"

Easy fiver.  45 minutes seems to be the point at which my attention span starts to trail off on the treadmill.  I need to come up with some new mental gimmicks.

Commercial fartlek on the treadmill (~10k pace surges during the commercials, ended up being 3 x 4 minutes or so).  Nice way to mix it up, but I need to not do this when funny movies are on; hyperventilation tends to be counterproductive to rapid self-propulsion.

Unfortunately I missed a birthday run yesterday. Up late the night before + work + right to party festivities kind of got in the way.  29 is an awkward age anyway....at least next year I can go for the 30 miler!

Steady fiver loop around town after work.  No after school program on fridays, so getting to run outside during the day is always nice.  The Wyoming winds were at their finest today and naturally become headwinds during the uphill part of the loop.  Ate it pretty good toward the end after misjudging the deepness of a snowdrift....in front of a nice audience of co-workers.  I'm awesome like that.  I was disappointed there wasn't more blood though. 

High of SIXTY predicted down in SLC tomorrow.  A track club run may be in order.

Track club run.  Jogged down 27th east from Tanner Park for a spell & back.  Was hoping to go longer, but felt kind of meh energywise. Sore from yesterday's spill too.

Took advantage of the day off and got outside again.  Bike trail still a wee bit icy, but managed to make it through without falling.

Tuesday sixpack while watching some olympics.  I even left the fan off and thus expect to be 100% acclimated to the heat when I go to Arizona this wekeend.

Ragnar for me is kind of like getting back together with an old girlfriend - you know it's probably not a good idea, but you talk yourself into it anyway.  It ends up being a whirlwind mixture of exhiliarating, sweaty, fun and weeping, hobbling messiness that makes you wonder what the hell you were thinking.

Nonetheless, my wife Andrea's team (a women's team, curiously enough) found themselves down a runner with about 2 weeks to go and decided to open up the testosterone gates.  Andrea is a pretty good arm twister, but I didn't need a ton of convincing to take a day off work and spend a long weekend in Arizona in February.  Fortunately, I was replacing runner 12 who had the shortlest legs and thus only had just over 10 miles total to run.  My goal was to get in a few solid efforts while escaping as physically unscathed as possible.

The nice thing about being van 2 is getting to sleep in a bit on race day.  With the sleep deprivation that accompanies a Ragnar Relay, every minute of sleep that you can salvage in the preceding few days is to your advantage.  After a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby, we were out & about by 10am, picked up some teammates made a quick grocery store run (which including a chance encounter and epic photo op with the Oreo mascot!) and were at exchange 6 with plenty of time.   Our first runner took the hand-off right on schedule at ~12:30pm and with that, van 2 of team 'We Got 99 Problems But a Kill Ain't One' was off!

Leg 12  (2.3 miles, ~7:45 pm)  - 16:54

Splits:  7:19-7:30-6:52 pace (0.3)

An unremarkable jaunt through some neighborhood streets to the high school that served as the major exchange point. This one was too short to really be memorable. Got into a reasonably hard effort and focused on staying in control. The field was pretty scattered during this leg and I had nobody within sight for the first few minutes, which was probably to my advantage as it helped me from getting too out of hand early on.  Nonetheless, I still managed to pick up 5 'kills'.  I didn't intend to really kick it in during the last quarter mile, but had another runner just ahead of me and the competitive side won.  I managed to catch her just before the last turn, to which she loudly proclaimed "DAMN IT!", which somehow made it sweeter.  Due apologies to my unidentified victim!  I still finished feeling strong and comfortably within my target pace for the leg and jogged some laps around the adjacent athletic field to cool down and attempt to keep the legs loose.

Leg 20 (pacing) (2.65 miles, 2:50 am)  - 28:23

Splits: 10:57-10:36-10:34 pace (0.65)

Ragnar allows for pacers on all overnight legs, so I took the opportunity to keep Andrea company and safe from the creatures of the night...considering that we heard the distant howl of coyotes for parts of the leg, it wasn't such a far-fetched idea!  Apart from the howling, it was a peaceful leg that was a bit removed from the hustle n' bustle.  Andrea was hoping for sub 11s on this leg, so we worked on hitting that target for the first mile and then increasing the tempo a bit without straining too much if she was feeling good enough. As shown from the splits, she nailed it pretty well and I was pumped for her.

Leg 24 (3.0 Miles,  5:45 am) - 23:53

Splits: 7:41-8:10-8:08

I was shooting for 8:00 miles on this leg and managed to hit my target, but had to work harder to do it than I would have liked.  I didn't really feel so hot for most of it; my legs felt flat and my energy had understandably hit a low point.  I had managed to 'sleep' for a couple of hours at the previous major exchange and while getting to lie down is always nice, it wasn't particularly restful as it often goes with Ragnar. So I was probably feeling the aftereffects of that.  My stomach also wasn't feeling so hot and I was worried about losing my pukeless streak, but was thankfully able to hold it together.  There was some gentle downhill in the first mile, which accounts for the fast split.  This was followed by some gentle uphill in the second mile which I did my best to attack while being thankful for the extra oxygen from the lower Arizona altitude as I did so.  Handed off feeling pretty trashed and worried about my last leg, but quickly felt better after getting some food and electrolytes in me.  Also picked up 10 more kills to add to the collection!

Leg 36 (5.4 miles, 4:30pm)  - 45:48

Splits - 7:34-8:05-8:40-8:58-9:11-8:10 pace (0.4)

Last leg of the race!  The splits obviously tell a pretty comical tale of starting way too fast and then going into damage control to keep from imploding too badly, then smelling the finish and kicking it up a notch.  Why I ran the first mile so fast I have no idea, but I guess it's a good sign that that pace feels 'controlled' for a third hard run in 24 hours off little to no sleep.  I purposely dialed it back after that, then took a couple walk breaks in the last 2 miles, more from being sick of running than anything else.   Even though I wasn't enjoying myself too much at this point, the scenery of this leg was pretty sweet; with much of it following a bike path along the river.  As I made my way along the path, I eventually heard the glorious sound of cheering and an announcer's voice.  I looked up and saw the finish area directly across the river from me, with a rather epic looking quarter mile footbridge and a short jaunt along the riverway on the other side to conquer.  I picked it up again across the footbridge and picked off a few more people (including some unsuspecting pedestrians).  Being within sight of the finish, I was inwardly praying during this time that we'd be taking a direct line and not be forced to do some diabolical mile loop around the nearby buildings or something.  Fortunately, the race officials oblidged me and had us turn left, directly into the finish.  I held a comfortable pace during this stretch, while impressively managing to kill an entire team....we later debated whether I should count that as 12 kills or not, but I did the honorable thing and only counted it as 1, which still brought me to a respectable 21 kill tally for the leg.

I felt much better on the last leg and fortunately don't seem to have any ill effects physically.  Also, the 10 hours of sleep that I received that night were some of the most glorious I've ever had.

Overall, it was a great experience.  We had a really fun and low-key van with no drama to speak of, which is really what makes the experience what it is.  Everyone seemed pretty pleased with their performances as well.  I'm also pumped that the preliminary results list us as 6th in the open women's division.  Apparently I didn't even need to wear a tutu as originally planned to fool anybody!

As captain of Team "Lieutenant Dan's Legs" for Wasatch Back in June, it's only a matter of time before I get to embrace this crazyness all over again.  Onward we go!

Only had time for a quickie on the treadmill.  Threw in 10 minutes at 2% incline and 5 minutes at 5% to spice it up a little.

2.5 in before i FELL OFF THE FREAKING TREADMILL.  To my credit, I lasted a long time between treadmill fails.  I decided that was enough excitement for one day.  A not-so-subliminal message to get outside tomorrow?

Casual out n' back up past the roundhouse a ways.  There was a stiff wind by mortal standards and a gentle breeze by Wyoming standards.

It's nice being able to start & finish my runs in the daylight even with working late most of the time....which will get even better next week with the glorious return of DST!

Nice stroll from Highland with the track club.  For once I was smart and didn't try to go out with the speedsters.  Nice turnout tonight!  Beautiful evening too.

3 x 1200m neighborhood hill loop that was about 50/50 uphill/downhill at ~6% grade.

*coughcoughhackhack*

 I've been back running again for almost 2 years out here, but I still have a lot to learn about hill repeats at altitude.  It's probably not wise to try and go out at faster than (flat) 5k pace for the first 300 meters of the uphill part, for example.  Felt like my form was pretty good on the downhills at least, even though I was mostly in survival mode by that point.

I feel like I can get pretty big gains strengthwise by doing this workout on a regular basis.  I just need to work on relaxing on the ups and pushing the downs more. Plus it will give the neighborhood folk further confirmation that I'm just a crazy heathen.

Track club run from the Cottonwood Rec Center.  Got up with a speedy group and felt pretty strong.  Gorgeous day!

Easy run around Bear River.  Nice to see the path almost completely clear.

Did a couple loops up City View.  As you might guess, a street called 'City View' has some rather adventurous climbing on it.  Got some pretty good strength work in which will hopefully help for next week's Moab adventure, on the confidence front at least.

Easy run in bear river.  First 2 miles on the main path w/ Andrea, then broke off to see how the dirt trails were faring...the answer was just a wee bit muddy.  Sloshed around a bit, then came back.   Dealing with a frozen GPS, but estimated it to be just short of 6. 

Did some loops in Bear River with a couple mile pickups thrown in.  Relatively mild out, but pretty windy.  7:15-7:34 for the fast miles.

Elevensies on the park city rail trail.  Definitely a grind, especially in the second half.  My fueling was fine, but I always struggle mentally with these solo longer runs.  I think I need a better attention span.  The obvious highlight was the cow that made eye contact and then turned around and took a dump in front of me.  Somehow it summed up the day pretty well. 

Bear river + a loop on the streets for an even 6.   Calf still a little tight from last weekend's run, but overall not bad.  Hoping it holds up for this weekend's crazy adventures.

Quick run on the bear river trails after work to christen the new trail shoes!

Super windy above the ridge which was less than fun, but otherwise a nice day.

Short run on the treadmill after work.   Off to Moab for the weekend!

Took part in the 6 hour 'fun run' as part of the '24 hours of Utah' race series.

~2 miles of hiking in Arches NP.  Calf was pretty sore, but seemed to loosen up a bit.  Of course the 5 hour drive that followed probably didn't help too much.

Early run to get something in, as I'm stuck at school for parent-teacher conferences until 8.  (which for me, typically involves hiding in my cave and hoping no one needs me)

Still not at all a morning runner (especially when it's snowy/slick), but glad to have it out of the way.  Calf felt fine today, so maybe the short break was a good thing.

Quick run, then off to Ogden to get my car serviced and bum around Utah for the day. 

Looking forward to seeing this in Salt Lake tonight!........

https://www.facebook.com/runningtheedgefilm

Easy 30 minutes on the treadmill since it decided to go ahead and be in the mid-teens in wyoming this morning.  Just getting over a nasty chest cold and can finally walk across a room without hacking up a lung.  Running is still another story....

Flying back to new england tomorrow for spring break, so at least I'll have some nice sea level oxygen to work with!

Some glorious sea level miles on a pretty rail trail in western mass.  Felt pretty great for having spent a week plus hacking up most of my internal organs.

Only had time for a quick run before we had to check out....did a short out n' back along the Charles River and later crashed the Boston Marathon Expo.   Great stuff and got to hear from notables such as Bart Yasso, race director Dave McGillvary and the Hoyts.  I can only tolerate being wall-to-wall with people for so long though, thus we made it brief.

Also did ~4 miles of walking around the city in the afternoon.

'Easy' run in bear river. First run back at 7000ft is always kind of rude regardless.  I'll still be ready to chase cookies this weekend.

In other news, Meb effing Keflezighi, ladies and gentlemen!

Relegated to the treadmill for as much as I could tolerate, as it was super windy out even by Wyoming standards.  Normally that doesn't bother me when it's warmer out, but sometimes one has to draw the line when dust and branches and cows are flying around.  Getting impaled isn't super high on my bucket list.  On the bright side, the Bruins always seem to play well when I'm watching on the treadmill!

Quick loop on the dirt trails at Bear River.  So nice back there now that the snow/mud is gone.  Wishfully hoping that it will stay that way.

Ready to chase some cookies tomorrow!!

Pretty pleased with the time today, especially considering my fitness and that my head was encased in a giant ball of fuzz.  Fortunately it was rainycold, but I still felt pretty hotheaded by the end.  The course came out a little short on the GPS, so probably converts to like a 23:40.  No cookies to chase today unfortunately, so I probably became the de facto target for most people.  Nonetheless, we were pretty scattered up front and I ran most of the race by myself.   Fairly nondescript course that was a loopy type thing through a residential area.  Slight downhill at the beginning and slight uphill at the end - the sort where you don't really notice the early downhill but definitely notice the late uphill.

Managed to take first in my age group, but the awards ceremony took FOR-EV-ERRRRRRRRRRRR due to multiple races and lots of age groups (I'm all about giving out fun stuff to the kiddos, but is it really necessary to have a '4 and under' age group in a 5k?).  I kept warm by jogging around on the grassy field.  Ended up getting a neat little plaque and of course GIRL SCOUT COOKIES, which was well worth the wait.  Definitely a well-run and family-friendly event.  You can always count on the girl scouts to get 'er done!

No more races currently planned until the Yellowstone Half in mid June, so a nice little window to get some miles in just as the weather is warming up and the school year is winding down.

It's also worth noting that my two fastest 5ks since picking up running again have both come in costume.  Perhaps I should make this a regular habit.

Quick treadmill run while watching the Red Sox knock somebody around for a change.

Easy 5.   Go Bruins!

Nice out n back along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail - first 3 miles of the WF100 course in my effort to systematically carve it up over the summer. Only 97 more miles till I've owned it ;)

It seems we're always going either up or down.  I love that these Utah trails don't mess around!

4 sluggish mile w/ co-worker friend after work.  Felt pretty crappy....I blame late lunch, wind, hills, and you know, the obligatory mid-May snowfall in Wyoming.

I told some of the kids I work with that I'm thinking of running another marathon.  Some of the questions I got in response...

"Are you gonna win?"

"What are you gonna do if you get beat by a fast Jamaiican guy?"

"How long does that take? 10 hours?"

I've always known that having kids guess your age can be pretty depressing.  Apparently the same goes for race times.

Got some soggy, muddy miles in on the Park City Rail Trail.   It also hailed on me for about 10-15 minutes, which made it extra special.   Turend around a bit earlier than planned due to part of the trail being ripped up from construction.  Was then briefly rerouted due to an unfenced angry dog that decided to make its presence known, leading to me having to climb an unnecessary hill and adding to the overall grumpyness.

Saw the Garmin mileage reading when I got back to the car and decided it was a good sign that it was time to quit....

Easy fiver while watching the Bruins be wholly uncooperative.  On the plus side, it got above 40 degrees today and my Mothers' Day snowman has melted.

My other exciting news:

I expect it to be an utterly unpleasant experience and can't wait!  Hoping to hit 4 hours, or at least be in a position to go out comfortably with the 4 hour group.  10 years is just too long of a break from this marathon sillyness.

Sluggish sixer on the rail trail.  My legs and my lungs seem to be at two different places with respect to fitness, which is always awkward.   Encountered a fellow runner with two dogs in tow, one of which followed me for a considerable distance.  Apparently I was a more entertaining running partner than she was.

1 burrito

Walked 1.5 miles in the state park w/ Andrea.

Nice day out!  Finished the run shirtless for the first time all year (except for Ragnar in Arizona, which hardly counts).  This 2 days after crazy snow which ended up more or less closing Wyoming.  I live in such a funny place.

Slithered down to Utah for some quality time on the BST.  Felt pretty meh; not used to this heat yet and the exposure didn't help.  Pretty as always though.

I'm hoping to work in 1-2 trail runs per week this summer to build up some strength and because trails are generally awesome.  I have pretty convenient access to the Uintas, so I'll probably spend a bunch of time there as well, especially on warmer days.

Quick run along the Hudson in New Jersey.  There appears to be more runners in this area than Wyoming upon preliminary inspection. Good luck/skill to everyone in Ogden today!

Nice run along the Hudson River.  Lungs were great, legs felt trashed, which is the opposite of how it often goes back home at altitude.  Spending the better part of yesterday on my feet as a groomsman for my college bud and then showing everyone how it's done on the dance floor may have contributed to that.

Bear River trails.  I don't like heat.

I've been duly nominated to hang out with the 2nd grade kiddos on their field trip to the Ogden Dinosaur Park tomorrow!  When I get invited onto field trips, it's typically to corral the more colorful characters.  I wonder how many cross-training miles I'll be able to count for that...

Soggy rail trail.  Got glared at by cows.  I glared back.

Bear River.  Lots of Memorial Day BBQ-goers out, most of whom were probably horrified by that shirtless guy in running shorts.  Nothing like summer running in small town Wyoming.

Limited time on my hands, so I decided just to do a balls-out mile for fun.  My uneducated guess was ~6:40 and ended up with 6:36, so not bad.   Probably my first sub 7 since college, which is kind of depressing.  Needless to say, it hurt. I wonder what the altitude conversion is :)

1 up, 1 down.

Easy 10 spot up 89 through Almy and back.  Was briefly interrupted as I was held hostage by a cow who refused to move from the middle of the road and kept rearing back like he was going to charge at me.  Finally someone with more wheels + horespower than me came by and scared him off.   Otherwise a nice morning for a run (it's worth noting that autocorrect keeps conveniently changing that to 'rum'. Hard to ignore the subliminal messages! ) 

7 miles of hiking at Curt Gowdy SP in Cheyenne.  Nice trails!

Local bike path right next to the hotel in Cheyenne - followed by a dip in the pool of course.

PM - 2.5 "with" Andrea (on parallel treadmills).  Mixed it up a little and threw some fast segments in.  

Bike trails in Cheyenne. 

Still in Cheyenne.  Started out on the treadmill, got bored, then did the last bit out on the bike trail.  I don't know if it was the heat or the transition to a not-moving surface that made my legs go all wobbly outside.  In the future I think I'll just pick one and stick to it.  

Streets/bike paths in northern Denver. 

Made my first trip down to Jeremy Ranch Rd - yes it's 'down' for me :) .   I enjoyed it!  Sort of reminds me of a more forgiving version of CO's Magnolia Road with a few dead snakes thrown in.   I imagine I'll be back quite a bit this summer. 

Yeah, let's never speak of this one again.  Fortunately I managed to coincide the worst race of my life with one of the sweetest courses I've been on, so it wasn't a total bust. 

Where to begin?  I didn't feel great at the start - felt congested and warm to the point of being feverish, despite the mid 30 degree weather.  I was never really able to shake those negative thoughts out of my head and get my body going.  At the start, I tucked in with the 2 hour pace group, which should've been a pretty conservative effort, yet it felt way faster than the 9 minute miles we were doing.  In the back of my mind, I thought about dropping out when I saw Andrea just before the mile mark, but 1) dropping out sucks and 2) I really wanted to see the course.   Nonetheless, I lost contact with the pace group just past the 3 mile mark, which essentially ended my day.  After that point,  I felt like poop and was never able to get myself going - it just became a matter of getting the thing over with.   I was half-hoping a bear would wander over out of curiosity and end my misery (and I was so zoned out I probably wouldn't have noticed until his teeth were on me), but unfortunately none obliged. 

It's a shame that things went that way, because the couse was really a lot of fun.  It started out with a quick loop through downtown West Yellowstone for a mile or so, then picked up some non-descript dirt roads till about mile 4, when we turned onto a bit more primitive double track trail.  We started climbing in the 5th mile and would end up gaining about 300 feet over the next mile and a half, before plunging downhill around mile 7.  The climb wasn't really as bad as I was expecting, but it didn't much matter by then. At this point, the trail became a bit more rocky and technical.  Not super difficult by normal trail running standards, but you definitely had to pay attention so you didnt take an ill-advised step and go flying.  At around mile 9, the trail became smooth again and wound it's way around a nice lake to the right.  This was a really enjoyable part of the course; great views and pretty easy trail.   At mile 11, it was back onto the bigger dirt road for the last push into the finish.   It was more or less a trail race, but like I said, not bad as far as trail races go.  I'd call it a pretty nice 'gateway race' for anyone looking to pursue trail racing on a regular basis. 

The course was on the slower side for sure - about 7-10 minutes based on the times of the more established runners I knew and somehow I was still in the top third of finishers.   But truthfully I was cooked before the 'slow' part even started, so that's not an excuse.  I've been struggling in general to find a groove lately, but hopefully I can use the summer to build up a more solid training base, which will bring the good performances and the confidence back.  I'm wondering if some dietary interventions might not also be in order due to the general low energy 'blah' feeling I've been having as well.  

I won't post splits because I'm embarrased by them, but I will say that the awesome finisher's medal was well worth sticking around for.   Also, hearing the finish line announcer's voice coming into earshot may be one of the most blessed sounds there is.  I'm sure I'm not alone on this.

And now the 'fun' part of the Yellowstone weekend can start!

6 miles of hiking in yellowstone. Got stuck in a bison jam and saw two grizzlies play-fighting (at least I think it was playing)

4 easy peasy in Livingston MT. I guess technically I could call it a tempo run since it was 1:30 faster than half marathon pace :p.   

Legs a little sore, but overall ok. 

PM - 3 miles of hiking in Coeur d'lene ID. Get around round round I get around!

Easy hour in Eugene, OR.  Of course I tried to get onto Hayward Field first, but it was locked up, so I ran on Pre's Trail & local bike paths instead.  I suppose it was an acceptable backup :)  Go Ducks!

On to California today, then we get to stop driving for awhile. 

local trails in pleasanton, CA (Andrea's hometown).  Nice to be staying one place for more than a day at this point.

Easy hour in my brandy new Ghosts! - local streets/bike paths in Pleasanton CA.  Last full day of sea level goodliness before driving back uphill. 

Quick run with a fast finish.  Finally back in WY, only to leave again for one of those silly little Ragnar things tomorrow. 

"I just felt like RUNNING!"

I always proclaim at least once during these silly Ragnars that I'm never doing one again.  Funny how these things work out.  For good measure, I agreed to be a captain this time around - and rest assured, team "Lieutenant Dan's Legs" had more fun than you did and discovered very quickly that there's a gratuitous Forrest Gump quote for almost every situation.

"Two standing orders in this platoon.  1 - take good care of your feet.  2 - try not to do anything stupid, like gettin' yourself killed."

LEG 1 - 6.9 miles, ~1:45pm

This leg involved just over a mile up Avon Pass, before cresting the top and plunging down hill, then flattening out for the final mile or two into the first major exchange.  Cool temperatures and overcast skies with periods of rain had greeted us throughout the morning, which we were quite thankful for. ("and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath!)  Then right on cue, the sun came out and the mercury went up considerably at the tail end of the 5th leg.  Perhaps it was the combination of narrow roads, being early in the race, and a small exchange space, but exchange 5 was a total disaster.  There was over a mile of backup from vans trying to get in, which lead to many runners being stranded and waiting on their vans.  It became apparent about a mile out that our runner was going to beat us to the exchange, so I got out early and hoofed it up there for an extra bonus mile (even picking up a few kills along the way!). 

After the actual start, I kept a slow, but steady pace going up the hill, noting that was considerably warmer and also humid out, which I never do well with.  I got into a nice rhythm on the downhill, dropping a couple 7:30ish miles and picking off a few more people - including a guy was a sword, who thankfully didn't impale me in response.  But by the time we hit the flats for the closing miles, I felt really sluggish and just couldn't really get myself going.  I kept moving as best I could into the exchange and was mostly just happy to be done.  Picked up another 5 kills along the way.

I really like being the last runner in the van, because we're on our down time and can typically get something substantial to eat pretty quickly, also there's no needing to rush off and meet the next runner.  After eating, we made our way up to snowbasin for the next major exchange.  While waiting for our team, I also got to watch Fritz crushing the latter part of the snowbasin climb and then leg 12, which was fun to see - and also made me slightly jealous, having suffered through runner #11 last year. 

LEG 1.5 - 1.5 miles, ~10:30pm

Had to fill in the latter part of a leg for our 3rd runner, whose foot issues had flared up on her.  Nice short stroll through some neighborhood streets at night and even picked up a couple more kills for good measure.  Creepy moment was when a speedy guy came up on me breathing heavily to the point where it sounded like he was growling (just imagine hearing quick footsteps and growling behind you at night when there's nothing else around).    Felt bad for teammate, who's a bona fide ragaholic and pretty tough runner - she's battled PF and seemed to be doing pretty well, but apparently it got the best of her.  Hoping it doesn't end up being too serious.

LEG 2 - 8.3 miles, ~1:00am

This was to be my "fun" leg, with 8.3 miles of uphill, climbing to East Canyon Reservoir.  I really enjoy the night legs of Ragnar - especially WB.  Very quiet and peaceful with being out in a relatively remote area, along with a more scattered field.  I didn't get the chance to have a night leg last year because of how the timing worked out and was happy to have the opportunity this year.  The first half of the run was fairly manageable, with lots of gentle rollers.  I think it also helped being dark and not being able to see what was ahead of me.  I saw vans and other runners from time to time, but for the most part, was left to my own thoughts and musings.  At one point, I saw a pair of eyes gleaming at me from out of the brush.  After a few tense seconds, I was relieved to see that it was a small deer as opposed to something interested in eating me. 

The second half was definitely a battle, with the effort beginning to weigh on me and mentally starting to lose focus.  Soon the road began to climb substantially, which eventually lead to more power walking than running.  In the last 2 miles, both of my calves also seized up sharply, which has been a problem in the past. ("Something BIT me!) Inconveniently, this kept happening just as I was passing or about to pass people and I probably freaked quite a few folks out - just imagine heavy footsteps and then a loud moaning sound behind you at night (yes, I totally became "that" creepy guy from my previous run).  At one point, I was essentially frozen in place and had to wait for my calf to stop spazzing before I could keep moving.  Mercifully, it did and I was able to finish up.  Despite my struggles and the scattered field, I was still able to pick up 9 kills while only getting picked off myself twice.  #moralvictories

Temperature-wise, I was ok during the run, but quickly became freezing cold to the point of visibly shivering afterward.  Fortunately our team had access to a trailer that one team member owned, which we conveniently situated in front of another teammate's relative's house which was right along the course.  This allowed us a heated space and beds for 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which is practically unheard of at ragnar.  The result was being just 'exhausted' and not 'deliriously exhausted' at the finish. 

LEG 3 - 2 miles, ~2:30pm

Van 1 was having several injury issues of their own, putting us well behind pace and at risk of falling behind cutoffs.  As a result, we had to do some creative engineering and 'leapfrogged' over some of our last legs.  I opted to take one for the team and complete my highly arduous 2 mile final leg.  Through copious stretching, rolling, and walking around, my calves felt ok and were able to withstand another couple miles without biting me again.  I even managed a negative split, going 8:40-8:30.  I was just happy to be able to maintain my normal easy pace at this point. 

"I'm pretty tired.  Think I'll go home now."

EPILOGUE

We finally got done around 8pm and after taking care of all that needed to be taken care of, hobbled back to Wyoming and arrived around 1am, before having the most glorious 11 hours of sleep ever.  This whole experience was mostly enjoyable, except for the actual 'running' part of it.  I don't know what's been going on with my running lately, but the motivation to keep going just hasn't really been there.....which usually means that my tolerance for discomfort decreases exponentially.  It could just be my perception, but I feel like the pace projections for WB are pretty....ambitious compared to other Ragnars. (I kind of had a hard time believing I'd be able to run 8.3 uphill miles at 8:40 pace if my 10k pace is 8:30, especially after already having run once that day)   I've finished well under my target times at the other two that I've done, but light-years behind them at both WBs now.  I suck at heat and I suck at hills, so WB doesn't exactly play into my strengths.  Nonetheless, it's disheartening to be that far off my projected times.   I'm debating whether some time off is needed for a little mental break - I feel like the running just hasnt been enjoyable lately.  Meh.    Will that stop me from doing another Ragnar?  Probably not.  I have a "Saints & Sinners" and "Deuces Wild" medal to earn in Vegas anyway!

"I'm not a smart man - but I know what chafing is"

Some tightness in the hammies, but overall a lot better than I expected to feel after WB. 

I'm schweaty

6 miles w/ 6x30sec pickups.  The legs definitely aren't very snappy at the moment.  Time to work some track workouts in. 

Slip n' Slide anyone???..... http://www.slidethecity.com/event/salt-lake-city

Jogged 1.5 from my apartment down to the bike path for the little 4th of July fun run 5k in our town. Not much of a running scene up here, so I try to support the local events when I can.  Did the first mile at about typical 5k pace, felt awful, then just shut it down and dialed back to eat pace the rest of the way. Legs still a little sluggish after Ragnar and a pretty decent (for me) volume week. Getting the miles in was the main thing today anyway.  

Bees game + fireworks tonight. Happy 4th everyone!

Nice trail run up at Solitude.  This is a weekly trail series starting at Corner Canyon in April and then moving to the ski resorts during the summer.  Breathtaking course - in every possible sense of the word.  I promise I worked very hard for that 45 minutes.   I went to a couple of these races last year, but this was my first of the season.  These guys do a great job - decent turnouts, shoe demos, and pretty sweet post-race raffle.   I plan on doing as many of these as fits into my schedule through the rest of the summer.  Snowbird next week! 

You know any race where chairlifts are present is bound to be a little interesting....

Trail trotting in the High Uintas.  A little 2-mile-high jaunt is always good for the soul - provided the lungs don't explode first. 

So I've been on a bit of down-time recently.   Had a few uninspiring runs that I didn't bother logging.  A similar thing happened last summer where I had some uninspiring race results and got discouraged to the point where it became a chore.   Ironically I seem to do better with running when I'm busier with work, which is now the case with school starting up - I'm more routine-oriented I guess.  I've always done better as fall sets in anyway, apparently I'm still programmed for cross country. 

Planning on keeping things pretty low-key for awhile, without much in the way of racing, except for a charity 5k event in Liberty Park this weekend, which I've heard tell is a fine place to prance around!

What do finish lines mean to you?....

http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/2014/08/finish-lines.html

(Apart from the obvious "Thank [deity of choice]!", usually remembering to hit the right button on the Garmin and trying to get out of the way before I collapse)

Bear River trails
 

Good luck to everyone running/stumbling in the Wasatch 100 this Friday/Saturday!  I'll be at Lambs' Canyon all day Friday to cater to your every whim.  Hope nobody has a baaa-aaad race.

WASATCH 100 - LAMBS CANYON (~52 MILES) AID STATION REPORT

So what can I say about working an aid station?  Well being a major aid station at a relatively major 100 miler, there was definitely a steady flow of activity and a wide spectrum of emotions covered over the entire day (I was there from 1 to midnight).

Andrea and I were helping to work the food table, which meant lots and lots of sandwich making and keeping the bowls with sugary & salty treats fully stocked.  Once everything was set up, there was the anticipatory window of tracking the top runners online, waiting for the frontrunners to arrive, and seeing what had transpired from the last aid station.  The leader finally came through at ~2:45 to the usual round of applause and cowbells, sparking an early trickle of runners at 1 every 5-10 minutes or so.  Naturally, most of these early runners had crews with them and were well taken care of, so our role was mostly moral support and informational; letting them know how far ahead the next guys were and where the next aid station was. 

Action started to pick up around 4, as the 24 hour hopefuls were starting to stream in.  We kept a good amount of sandwiches ready to go, with a whole bunch bagged to keep them fresh and rotating them out onto plates at about 8-12 'quarters' per plate.  We kept things pretty well organized into sections for fruity stuff, salty stuff, sugary stuff, and sandwiches.  If you heard a guy saying "PB&J over here, turkey over here", it was probably me ;) .  Hopefully this made it easier for the overwhelmed runner on sensory overload.  Inventory-wise, I thought we made out pretty well.  We ended up with just about the exact right amount of gu (one of the last 5 runners to depart cleaned it out), which was pretty impressive.  The only thing we ran out of was potatoes, but were able to get a refill pretty quickly (apologies to anyone who showed up in between batches!).  The only real trick was churning out the sandwiches fast enough to keep up with the demand - we did have a person or two come up and snag an entire plate at once, which was pretty epic.  The other main challenge was fending off the little beggars who would hover in front of the sugary stuff and look up at us with big eyes.  We may or may not have given in a few times 

It was so interesting to see the wide ranges of stories and personalities present.  There were those up front, shooting for a certain place or time goal, many of whom were seasoned veterans or young studs with exceptional talent (or both!).  There were the hopefuls who were simply trying to get to the finish line.  There were the regulars, who had participated in the race several times and seemed to know everybody.  And dearest to my heart, there were those bringing up the rear, who were flirting with the absolute cutoff, but were nonetheless determined to carry on for as long as they'd be able to, even with the knowledge that they would almost certainly run out of time. 

Crews were another interesting element.  Some people had large entourages with them to offer support, complete with signs, cowbells, shirts, and everything else you could imagine, which definitely kept things fun.  Fortunately the aid station was large and had a sizable seating area, which kept it from being overcrowded for the most part, but it was amazing at times to see how much it would clear out after just one runner departed.  At the other end of the spectrum, there were also those with little to no outside support, whom we tried to be as attentive to as we could, even if it was simply holding onto stuff for them and giving them a bowl to put things in, or unscrewing some caps for them.   Regardless of the mass of humanity we encountered though, the one big constant was that most everyone was extremely thankful and nice, sometimes even able to laugh at their own ridiculous predicament. 

Things probably hit their peak as darkness fell and the 30 hour time window came and went, with the meaty part of the pack descending on us.  After around 10:00 or so, things started to dwindle, leaving us with the true Wasatch grit; those who were in for the ~36 hour long haul.   This is the part that is always emotional for me.  Over the course of the day, you develop a unique bond with this athletes to whom you're providing aid and naturally, I just wanted everyone to make it to the end.  But by the laws of nature and variance, that's just not going to happen in an event like the Wasatch where so much can go wrong.  Many of the back-of-the-packers have been racing against the clock all day - at Lambs, this race ends when the clock strikes midnight.  To maintain 36 hour pace, the runner must leave by 11:30, but the reality is that most runners who depart past 11 likely aren't going to make it to the end.  Yet this didn't stop people from doggedly pressing on within minutes of the midnight cutoff.  The most powerful part of the day for me was watching these people who had been in motion for 18+ hours, spending more time out on the course in between aid stations because of their slower progress, and obviously quite worn down from the day's toils.  They probably knew they didn't have a realistic chance of making it to the end and could have easily called it a day at Lambs and departed for some rest, yet they chose to continue back out into the darkness for as long as they'd be permitted to.  I only wish I had half their guts.    As I was checking my phone for updates later, it really tugged at my heart strings upon seeing that some of these last people we checked out had been pulled from the course - some of them having timed out only one or two checkpoints (6-13 miles) from the finish.  I really hope they felt as though they gave it all they could've on the day and leave with pride in their effort.

For the second straight year, I came back to the finish line to photograph the finishers in the closing hours of the race to capture more of the Wasatch grit.  It's definitely an inspiring and uplifting experience to see so many people having finally achieved their objective.  As with the aid station, many of these late finishers had large entourages with them - literally running and filming beside them as they ran down the final stretch.  But some had only one or two supporters, if that.  Not knowing each finisher's story and what the experience means to them, I wanted to make sure I could capture the moment for as many folks as possible, even if it's with a poor quality iphone camera 

Definitely plan on being back next year, unless I actually sign up for this race in a temporary fit of insanity....I guess it's only a matter of time! 

Gratuitous imagery time.  A small sample of the heavenly offerings at the Lambs Canyon Cafe...

Leader and eventual winner George Grygar materializing from the wild abyss....

Early afternoon chaos....

Night time chaos....

Some of the last runners heading off into the night....

Ultra fanboy moment:  Current Wasatch and former Western States CR holder Geoff Roes getting ready to pace....

Ow

snapped off a couple quick treadmill miles before heading down to the airport for Ragnar Vegas
 

Oh, Ragnar.  

For whatever reason, the running mojo hasnt been present for awhile.  Between being super busy at work and some other stuff, I've just been in a rut where the act of running isn't very pleasant.  As such, I was much more 'along for the ride' for this one to support my teammates on team "Forking With Friends" (the epic sequel to last year's "Spooning With Strangers"!) and collect the crap-ton of medals I was set to earn from certain Ragnar 'combos' I had completed this year. 

PRELUDE

Uneventful trip down to Las Vegas.  Apparently it was Returning Missionary night at the airport or something, as the baggage area and upstairs pre-security area were nearly filled to the brim with the typical fare of Mormon-sized families, balloons, and "Welcome home Elder/Sister so-and-so" signs.  I'm accustomed to seeing small groups, but not hundreds!  Hope everyone made it to where they needed to be.  In spite of this, lines were short and flights were on time. 

Being in Van 2 and having a later than usual (for us) 8am start time, this meant getting to sleep in a bit at the nice condo that a teammate had rented.   After arriving later in the evening, I was in bed around midnight and out till about 9.  This was probably the most I've ever slept pre-Ragnar, which was an encouraging start.  We got some breakfast and packed it up to head to Exchange 6, which was only ~20 minutes away, giving us a nice cushion to relax for a bit that morning.

Leg 1 (5.56 miles, 1:50 pm)

Lots of factors working against me for this one.  Apart from having not run much, I was dealing with 80+ temps (which I suck at, especially when not acclimated) and uphill nearly the whole way (which I also suck at, especially when exposed and mingled with said heat).  It was about as pleasant as expected and I finished about 7 minutes behind my target time.  To add insult to injury, the famous "1 mile to go" sign came at about 4.25, which gave me brief hope that the leg would come out short.  Alas it actually ended up about a hundred meters long, making for a rather soulcrushing last 'mile'.     

But at least I looked pretty while taking the handoff...

I was out of it for awhile at the finish; slumped down in a dazed state beside the exchange, wondering where it all went wrong and wishing I stayed in school.  Then I gradually felt better after I was finally able to get some Gatorade down and after having copious amounts of water dumped on me by my supportive teammates.

Leg 2 (3.37 miles, 5:45am)

We got some sandwiches during the down-time and headed to the next major exhange to 'sleep'.   It was too stuffy and too hard to get comfortable in the van and too cold outside (alas, there were no indoor sleeping options this time), despite the unreasonably warm temps during the day.  This lead to uncomfortably shifting around in my seat, resting my eyes from time to time, and taking in the chorus of snores from those more successful in the sleep endeavor than me.   

We actually switched up the legs a bit on this one.  I swapped with our #10 runner who craves distance and downhills, both of which my 6.1 mile leg would offer.   Even though she's a bit slower than me, I correctly guessed that she would enjoy it much more than I would.  I was pleased to see her crush it and was more than happy to take her 3 mile leg and get a little extra recovery time. 

I was able to take the next handoff from my wife, who did well with her leg and gave me an extra butt smack for good luck, of course.   I headed out just as it was beginning to get light out and encountered a gaggle (herd? pack? murder?) of bunnies running across the path and hoped this was a good omen.  The leg was mostly downhill with a couple speed bumps and a rather rude little climb at the end.  After taking it out pretty easy, I opened up a little bit as I felt pretty good and was enjoying the cooler air and lack of sunlight.  Another runner had left just before I did, which gave me a nice target to key off of.  I kept him about 80-100 meters in front of me and then closed the gap and shot past at around 2 miles in. 

Felt tired during the 3rd mile, but just focused on maintaining and keeping going.  I was able to hold it together to the end, despite nearly making a wrong turn at the exchange (thanks volunteers for obstructing the right way and not saying anything till I was a good 8-10 seconds down the other direction :p).   Came out to be a bit long from the 3.0 advertised - some of it chalked up to my brief misadventure - but I still ran a faster time than expected.   Splits (since they weren't super embarrassing) came out to 8:18-7:54-8:10-7:33 pace (.37).   Runners were pretty scattered and we were just about bringing up the rear by that point, but I still picked up 3 kills! 

In the hour or two after this leg, I was fired up and felt the best that I had during the entire race.  Of course I knew this didn't mean much for my last leg and naturally crashed pretty hard beforehand. 

Leg 3 (5 miles, 2:45pm)

Fortunately we were able to access some indoor sleeping at the high school Exchange 24 and found a room with some wrestling mats that made excellent sleeping pads!  Based on projections, we anticipated having around 3 hours to potentially sleep.   Unfortunately, a curious noise began outside the doors a bit later and my wife was smart enough to check the rag-mag and realized that the exchange had shut down.  Not wanting to be taken for homeless people (which wouldnt be an entirely unfair mistake by this point), we quickly packed up to head out.  We were greeted outside by a relatively large marching band contingent and a parking lot nearly deserted of Ragnar vans (oops).  It was nice to have our own personal musical escorts at least.  We ended up with just over an hour of sleep; still better than nothing, but never quite enough, as it typically goes with Ragnar.

We spent a lot of time waiting around in the parking lot at the major exchange, as time seemed to drag by slower than ever.  As our anticpated hand-off window grew closer, we were approached by a race official making the rounds to inform us that we were going to be up against the finishing cut-off time of 8pm and may want to consider 'leapfrogging' (the practice where the next runner is sent ahead of their leg before the previous runner finishes).   With that in mind, I took off early.

The heat had come back for this leg, but didn't seem as bad as it did in leg 1 and with more shaded parts.  Nonetheless, I still felt pretty trashed at the beginning and had a really hard time getting my body going.  This leg was advertised as being gradually uphill, though not as bad as leg 1.   That assessment was pretty fair; the only rough parts that I noticed were a highway overpass in the first mile (followed by a nice downhill) and a stretch of maybe a half mile at ~2.5.  Otherwise it was mercifully flat.  There were also several red light stops, which made it harder to get a rhythm going.  

I struggled mightily during the first half, then caught a bit of a second wind as we left the sidewalk to briefly follow a dirt path that lead to a nice bikepath along a canal.  I kept a pretty good tempo for most of this last section, but suspiciously eyed the "1 mile to go" sign that popped up much earlier than expected at 4 miles, thinking I was in for more trickery.  Just beyond this point, we left the bike path and came out onto some neighborhood streets.  From the historically erroneous markings, I knew I had anywhere from a half mile to a mile and a half to go and was just working on keeping moving.  But after a couple minutes, I saw the wonderful sight of orange volunteer flags and a congregation of vans, signaling an early end to the journey.   I picked it up accordingly and finished feeling strong, as I was done about 3/4ths of a mile sooner than anticipated.  I finished this leg 9 minutes under my target time, which was obviously inaccurate with the short course, but was still on pace to be comfortably under, especially since I was feeling good at that point, so I was happy. 

The leapfrogging continued and most everyone had decent last legs, allowing us to finish up by 7 and proceed to merrymaking.....'merrymaking' mainly consisting of gorging on pizza and going into a coma.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ragnar Vegas has a bit of an infamous reputation for chaos and disarray.  Apart from a few hiccups, such as a few inaccurate measurements (the last of which I was very thankful for) this year was definitely better than years past.  The biggest issue was probably the finish area, which always seems to turn into an unmitigated disaster.  I think it was a good idea having it in a more central and accessible location (Red Rock casino), but Ragnar traffic combined with local patrons made the entry and parking situation a bit sketchy.  In fairness, much of the issue in this area was due to crazed drivers and trying to evade them with our big tank.  The main problem was that there were absolutely no directionals pointing us toward where the finish was, which is a problem on a big resort property with a labryinth of a casino.  After asking several people and turning it into a virtual treasure hunt, we finally located it in a nice little outdoor pool area.    The setup here was actually pretty sweet and one of the nicer finish areas I've seen, but it might be helpful if you actually indicated where it was, since it's not readily visible from the parking areas. 

Crowd control and team-reunification at the immediate finish area was also a bit of a disaster.  Some crazy little lady with a megaphone (whom I believe is the race director and whom I've never seen have a pleasant interaction with anybody in the 2 years I've done Vegas) was more or less screaming at team members to get behind the barricades at the finish and not go any further up-course the path to look for their runner (visibility was relatively poor in the immediate finish area), because they would be announcing runners.  Of course no such announcement was made when our final runner came through, which lead to a rather hilarious scene of me jumping/stumbling across the barricade to run in with him, which made mean director lady fairly apoplectic, with our team gradually strung out in pursuit.   

The other main issue at the finish - all food service was shut down at 7pm, leaving only the overpriced restaurants elsewhere in the casino labryinth, despite the 8pm finish cutoff.   Because of the location and close proximity to other stuff, it ended up being not a huge deal, but if you're going to provide food, then provide it for everybody - especially the folks out there the longest.  C'mon now.

Less significant issue, but there seemed to be some inconsistence with application of rules.  Several of our runners had been wearing headlamps around their leg during night runs, as they felt it gave them better lighting and was less annoying.  Nobody had spoken a word about it till our last runner, when one volunteer was determined to infract us because his headlamp was not on his head (the rules state you must have some sort of additional light source on the front, whether it be a headlamp or flashlight, but says nothing about where on your body it should be).  We didnt really care, since it was the last leg and you can get 3 infractions before getting the boot, but perhaps more clarification should be given to volunteers ahead of time so that power-hungry types don't take the strictest interpretation and wreak havoc on everybody.  

Despite the lack of actual training, it was still a fun weekend as always.  Apart from the miserable first leg, I didn't have the "why the hell do I do this? Never again!" self-loathing moment that I usually have somewhere in the middle.  Van 1 definitely had the better deal, as they had a few Vegas locals, given them the opportunity to shower/relax/sleep comfortably in between (this was my van's situation during Wasatch Back, so I can't complain).  None the less, I never really felt debilitatingly tired.  Very supportive van, with a great 'van mom' or two, to which I was happy to return the favor.  It did light a bit of a fire under me, which I hope lasts awhile.  I've already seen that Ragnar SoCal in April falls over spring break for my school district, so I'm hoping to get a team together for that as well.   I keep trying to convince myself that Ragnar is a bad idea, but if it's the thing that makes running 'fun' again, I'm all for it. 

-15 windchill outside

+68 inside

I'm a sinner,

I'm a grinner,

I'm a wee bit thinner.

Today's lessons:

1)  PEDs are overrated.....  http://www.foxsports.com/other/story/lance-armstrong-beer-mile-attempt-stops-after-one-lap-cycling-111814

2) Having 6 kids is a great way to build alcohol tolerance..... http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Sports/2014/11/10/Middle-Aged-Mom-Beats-the-Beer-Mile-Record

Took part in the Turkey Trot at school today to kick off Thanksgiving Break.  It consisted of 12 laps around the grassy field by the playground, which constituted 1 mile (not sure if that's been USATF-certified or not). 

In preparing for this event, I knew wardrobe would be essential and set out in search of one of these: http://img.costumecraze.com/images/vendors/eloper/U5502-large.jpg .  As with many things unfortunately, I waited till the last minute and was naturally let down by both Walmart AND the Dollar Store.  I settled for my "Kenya" singlet, since a race of this caliber should have at least one Kenyan in it. 

I knew the elements would be a key factor today, as the field was covered with snow and a fierce wind was blowing, so I made some last minute goal adjustments and kept reminding myself that everyone would be equally effected.  The start was a somewhat chaotic affair, with everyone essentially taking off themselves without an official command from the race started.  I hit my Garmin and took off undaunted. 

I found myself falling behind early, as some 4th graders with championship aspirations set an aggressive early tempo, but reminded myself that patience would win on this day.  Slowly, but surely I worked my way up through the field by keeping an even pace and working the tangents as optimally as possible.  It was apparent early on that many competitors were clumping together in large packs, clearly in an effort to work together against the formidable wind.  I found myself an unwitting participant in this gamesmanship, as many of them seemed to gravitate toward me, even shouting "Mr. L! Mr. L! Come run with me!",  undoubtedly to use me as a human shield.  Incidentally, I towered over the rest of the field in height, so I was left to fend largely for myself against the elements. 

The race went on and fatigue gradually accumulated.  I felt like quitting many times, but mentally kept grinding it out.  I was sure to stop at the aid station between laps and methodically stretch out the muscles and take in some gels.  It was still a very efficient process, as I wasn't losing any ground on my competition.  We went into the final laps, and I found myself neck and neck with a very determined 3rd grade girl.  The gamesmanship once again took over, as we began trash talking one another for the better part of 3 laps, before she finally relenquished and trotted off-course to fetch her jacket.

I triumphantly broke the tape, helped button a few jackets, and took a few students inside for a victory bathroom run.  Overall very pleased with my performance and excited to kick off the winter circuit on a positive note!  An excellent scouting opportunity for future XC prospects as well!   

Took advantage of the day off and schlepped around

gobblegobble

Nice fiver on the Park City rail trail.  A little windy, but not bad.  Wasn't the mud bath that I thought it might be.   I think the running mojo is slowly coming back. 

I'm told by my wife that basketball is being watched in this household tonight. Can't say I have much of a vested interest, but rooting against BYU is always fun!